After a 27-7 beatdown against the Chicago Bears, the Philadelphia Eagles’ offense is getting roasted, rightfully so.
Despite Sean Mannion’s system garnering plenty of praise through the first two weeks of the 2026 NFL season, it generated its fair share of criticism as well.
And when the Eagles couldn’t produce more than one score on Monday Night Football, the same mistakes were highlighted. The former NFL veteran-turned-analyst Brian Baldinger had plenty to say about the Eagles’ struggles with running screens.
Ex-NFL Player Unloads On Eagles’ Steady Failure With Screens
After the Eagles dialed up a Makai Lemon screen in the second half of Monday’s game, Baldinger couldn’t wait to analyze the play.
The analyst immediately took to X to express his frustration with what he saw.
“The Birds have attempted this hitch screen off ghost motion in every game….The receivers do not know how to block on the perimeter, and it gets blown up every time. Remove from Playbook,” he said.
On Tuesday, Baldinger followed up with a montage of the Eagles running screens through the first three weeks. It’s not just a failure for Lemon–it goes beyond the rookie wide receiver and no matter who runs it–the play hasn’t found success.
“If you watch the Eagles every week, you see the complete ineptitude of this play. They run it a couple of different ways … They can’t block on the outside. They have no idea how to block it,” Baldinger said.
After watching evidence from now three different games, Baldinger is confident in saying the Eagles simply can’t execute the play.
“Exact same formation. Exact same motion. Exact same result,” Baldinger said. “… Like the play, however, whatever version you want to run of it. Like they just got to take it out of the playbook because they can’t block the edges.”
Going into Week 3, Eagles offensive coordinator Sean Mannion was faced with questions about running screens and he made it clear that the play wasn’t going anywhere. After failing against the Bears, the OC can be sure to hear those questions once again, as the Eagles prepare for the Los Angeles Rams.